Customer Reviews

Mushroom Magick: A Visionary Field Guide

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My Review of a Visionary Guide to Mushroom Magick by Arik Moonhawk Roper with essays by Daniel Pinchback and Erik Davis and notes from mycologist Gary Lincoff.

As an expert in the field of ethnomycology, author of nine books and more than 30 published papers on hallucinogenic mushrooms, I personally like the idea of the book but could not endorse it as a reliable guide for amateur foragers to use in identifying species in the wild as the context of the book suggests that it is a 'comprehensive guide' to the species rendered inside the book.

It contains 94 full-paged watercolor renditions of hallucinogenic species. However, it is wrought with bad representations of the hallucinogenic psilocybian species featured in the guide. The author also painted 9 species that are not active species, but are often listed in edible and other mushroom field guides as possibly hallucinogenic, most whose original analysis was based on false positives of such species and obtained by chemical analysis in the early history of these mushroom species. The book also presents 9 species which do not contain the tryptamine alkaloids, psilocine/psilocybine and which are not active at all. Also included are 6 images not identified by name, but appear as to fill space in the book.

In many images the stems are either too fat and thick or to skinny to belong to actual specimens of the species he is portraying in this pictorial and many of those species represented also have caps in which their shapes are either too large and bulbous and are also not representative of the species and the artist also was not able to correctly sketch the veils on certain species found in the PNW and elsewhere throughout the world and left many without a striate margin which is normally visible in wet to semi-dried specimens.

His renditions of P. fimetaria, P. subfimetaria, P. stuntzii and P. silvatica are bad and do not look anything like the actual species. So is the case with many other rendered paintings in this book. Another example is the perfect liberty cap drawing which is well done, and then the appearance of a second image of a cap of Psilocybe semilanceata with pure blue gills, a feature never happening in that species. In fact, the majority of liberty caps rarely contain any bluing in collected specimens, but Psilocybe gills never stain blue, a feature which only occurs on the stem and/or edges of a cap. Mr. Roper also labeled Panaeolina foenisecii as a Psilocybe rather then identifying it as a brown-spored species belonging to the genera of Panaeolina.

I would never recommend this book to be used by amateurs seeking a relationship with the mushrooms described.

On the other hand, I am quite pleased with his renditions of Psilocybe cubensis and Amanita muscaria which are without a doubt, beautiful representations of those two species. Yet he also identifies a species of Amanita not associated with the chemicals found in Amanita muscaria.

More surprisingly is the fact that one of the most prominent and respected mycologists in the world, Gary Lincoff, an expert in the field of entheogenic fungi and edible and toxic mushroom identification who compiled and wrote notes to this guide, failed in catching these macroscopic mis characteristics of the species Mr. Roper painted in this book.

John W. Allen

Mushrooms fascinate some, and freak others out. "Mushroom Magick: A Visionary Field Guide" is an art book introducing viewers to the wonderful world of these fleshy fungi, which are as widely varied as they are interesting and beautiful. With particular emphasis on the psychedelic varieties, each mushroom species has its own listing as well as a watercolor painting to give viewers an idea of how to identify these mysterious mushroom types. "Mushroom Magick" is a fine read for the curious, the mushroom lover, or for the experimental.

I found out about this book through Jan Irvin's interview with the author. As a fellow artist and student of the mushroom I am truly suprised by the tone of the reviews posted so far. The work should be appreciated within the proper context, which I think was assumed would be easily understood. Thank you AR for sharing your visions with the world.

The art work in this book is great. If the book is used for the purpose of art appreciation with a primary natural subject, mushrooms, then the book is wonderful. However, I cannot suggest it as anything closely resembling a guide for identification due to a large numbers of discrepancies in book.

J. Allen gives a better synopsis of the book and a thorough review covering some of the discrepancies. Please read his review if you are planning to purchase this book for any purpose other than enjoyment of the art inside.

Mushroom Magick has lots of gorgeous mushrooms paintings that will just blow you away. The author has definitely captured the spirit and beauty of the mushroom with this book. However, it is not a good field guide for identification so when on the title it says "Mushroom Magick: A Visionary Field Guide" the key word is visionary. Gives very little information that is practical for a true field guide. Mentions habitats and spore prints (but not even for all of them) and also has some incorrect information about some of the families. But overall a beautiful book to look at and a nice leisurely, easy read.